The CHAIRMAN. Which bill is that?

Mr. HALL. That is the bill which you introduced.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Powderly's bill?

Mr. HALL. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. I was going to ask you whether there are any criticisms of the details of that bill?

Mr. HALL. I think on the whole it is a better bill than the League's bill-Senate bill 222. It is almost exactly similar, except that it is slightly more stringent in the age provisions. There are one or two changes of wording which make it somewhat better. I am speaking now of the first two sections of Senate bill 1891.

In brief, our reasons for adopting the educational test are these: We consider it, in the first place, to be a practical test, and not an academic test. It is necessary, in our judgment, to amend the law in two particulars. In the first place, to have some test which will be absolutely simple and certain in its operation, which will be such that an immigrant can tell at the farthest country town, where he buys his ticket in the interior of some foreign country, whether he is to be excluded or not. It is a test which is absolutely capable of determination at that point. Therefore there can be no hardship in the matter of an immigrant coming over here in doubt whether or not he will be allowed to land, as is at present the case with persons who are liable to become a public charge, which is the chief cause of exclusion at the present time.

The CHAIRMAN. Would not the system of inspection at foreign ports also help in that direction, as provided in Senate bill 1891?

Mr. HALL. It might. I suppose that applies chiefly to anarchists. The CHAIRMAN. It may be extended if it does not apply to other

cases.

Mr. HALL. On that point I will state that we do not object to a system of foreign inspection, provided it can be made thorough and adequate. We have felt that there is a very great chance of the test not being thorough and adequate, and in that case it would be worse than nothing at all.

The CHAIRMAN. Still, if you do not dismiss the present home inspection, it would be an additional check?

Mr. HALL. We have not felt that it would work that way. For instance, the number of consuls would have to be very largely increased.

The CHAIRMAN. The idea of this bill is not to have a consular inspection, but to have commissioners at the twelve or fifteen ports of emigration appointed from the Bureau of Immigration here.

Mr. HALL. Yes; I think that would be an improvement on the consular idea, but as a practical matter the inspection would probably be done very largely by assistants, who, perhaps, would be natives, and who would be more or less under various influences on the other side.

To answer your question further, we feel that anything which divides responsibility between somebody in Europe and somebody here is pretty certain to be a bad thing. If the officer at the point of departure certifies that he thinks an emigrant is a good man to come in, it is almost inevitable in human nature that the man here will rely on that certificate to a certain degree, and conversely if a man over there thinks it is a doubtful case he will say, "Well, I will pass this man and let the men on the American side pass on him again, and if

he is undesirable they will shut him out," and between the two I am afraid the inspection at either end will not be so rigid as under the present system here.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you disapprove of the system of inspection provided for in Senate bill 1891?

Mr. HALL. I have no objection to it as to anarchists and I have no objection to it generally, if it can be made thorough. I have some doubt whether that will be the practical result.

The CHAIRMAN. I am asking for information. I am not wedded to it at all.

Mr. HALL. Of course the theory of the present law and the theory of the educational test is that it will be applied by the steamship agent or the ticket seller where the immigrant buys his ticket; and, if it is thoroughly enforced on this side, it is a perfectly definite test, which both the ticket agent and the immigrant know about at the time, and the immigrant can tell whether or not he will be excluded. There is no hardship then in his coming over, because he can tell when he starts whether he will be excluded or not.

The CHAIRMAN. So far as the foreign inspection is aimed at anarchists and persons with criminal records, there would be some advantage in inspecting them in their own country.

Mr. HALL. There would be if foreign governments would allow a more or less secret and detective system. Whether or not they would, I think, is a question.

It is practically setting up an extra-territorial sovereignty for that purpose. Just how far foreign governments would allow a secret service over there is a question. On the other hand, if you have a public service, the interest of the foreign government is to retain all the good men for the army and to ship all the other men over here.

Senator DILLINGHAM. What is the tendency of the agents of the transportation companies?

Mr. HALL. Of course they take everybody that they think can squeeze through, and I have been informed that they take some they think can not, and collect double passage money. That reached such a pitch in reference to Italian immigration that the Italian Government passed an act giving the immigrant a right of action to recover his money. In general, I think a test of this kind would be enforced practically by the steamship companies on the other side, because the expense of carrying back large numbers of immigrants would be considerable.

So we feel that this is a practical test, and we advocate it because, as I said before, it has been found as an actual fact that the classes we wish to exclude contain a very large percentage of illiterates-that is, those who are ignorant of any occupation, incapable of appreciating our institutions and our standard of living, and difficult of assimilation, are as a matter of fact of the races which contain a large proportion of illiterates-and by adopting an educational test these classes of immigrants would be largely reduced, because the test is exact and definite in operation and can be easily and simply applied.

The officers of our organization have at various times gone to Ellis Island and practically tested this matter by slips of newspapers in different languages, and we found that it entailed practically no delay in the passage of the line of immigrants.

It has also been applied by Dr. Senner, who was commissioner of immigration at the port of New York, and I should like to read what

he says about it. In July, 1897, he published in the Annals of the American Academy an article, in which he says:

With these limitations

That is, not applying to persons under 16 years of age or to femalesI believe in the introduction of a limited and practical educational test as a natural and proper addition to the present immigration laws; and I may add that since October 1, 1896, I have practically introduced this test on Ellis Island without being forced by law.

He said again:

I am in favor of a moderate educational test for the protection of American civilization and of the American standard of life. Illiteracy is invariably coupled with a low standard, which inevitably tends to a lowering of wages under the present condition of education in continental Europe.

That is the testimony of Dr. Senner, who was for a good many years commissioner of immigration at the port of New York and had ample opportunity for observation. Assistant Commissioner McSweeney at the present time has said if immigration is to be restricted the educational test will do it, and is the one thing that will do it adequately. Senate bill 1891 has the approval of Commissioner Powderly. There you have the testimony of three of the most experienced immigration officials to the same effect.

The CHAIRMAN. Are there any immigration restrictions in Australia or in any of the English colonies?

Mr. HALL. I was about to call your attention to that point, and I will take it up now. In Australia-in South Australia, I think it was— New South Wales, and Western Australia there have been restrictions of this character in force for some time; also, I am told, in British Columbia, where the intending immigrant has to write out and sign an application blank before he is allowed to land, which amounts to an educational test.

I have here a copy of a bill which has already passed the house of the Commonwealth of Australia. It had passed in November. I have no doubt that by this time, as it is a government measure, it has passed the senate. This bill practically adopts the United States immigration laws, a codification of our laws in substance, and among the first mentioned in excluded classes is " any person who, when asked to do so by an officer, fails to write out at dictation and sign, in the presence of the officer, a passage of fifty words in length in a European language directed by the officer."

It is very much more stringent than any bill proposed here. It is aimed particularly at Asiatics, as it requires a European language to be written, but it is essentially an adoption of the Natal, West Australia, New South Wales acts, which were in force before the consolidation.

The CHAIRMAN. That bill is pending now?

Mr. HALL. I received word from the prime minister of Australia that it had passed the house in October last, and I have no doubt by this time it has passed the Senate, inasmuch as it is a government measure and I understood it had very considerable backing.

The third reason for adopting this test is because a preliminary test will be applied by the steamship companies at the places where the tickets are bought, and in this way the hardship of turning back immigrants at our own ports can be to a considerable extent avoided. Fourth, because the adoption of the educational test would not involve any change in existing machinery, nor any increase in expense

or in the consular service. It is a thing which can be added easily, and would not involve any increase of expense, and we believe it would be very effective with the worst class of immigration.

Fifth, because the ability to read and write is a necessary part of the equipment of the ordinary American citizen. The immigrant who comes here and is unable to read even the newspapers printed in this country in his own language is an immigrant who, in the nature of things, can not assimilate very quickly or very readily in respect to our standard of living or the labor conditions, and that is one reason why he herds with people of his own race in separate colonies and is at the mercy of contractors for the cheapest grade of labor.

Sixth, because it promotes education among those who desire to emigrate. It is a point to remember in connection with this test that it is not an absolute bar. If an immigrant has the energy and the

ability to learn to read in his own language he can come in. A man of that kind we want. The man who has the energy and the ambition to learn to read in his own language is the kind of a man who will make a good man here if he will apply that energy after he gets here. To that extent it rests with the immigrant himself whether or not he will come.

In addition to the indorsements which are mentioned in the back of this pamphlet, this principle has been indorsed by about 90 per cent of the newspapers in the United States since it was first suggested in 1895. A very large number of newspapers have commented upon the matter. We have at home, I should think, eight or ten large scrapbooks filled with clippings on this question, and out of all the editorials we find, as I say, that 90 per cent have indorsed this measure. If I had the time and it were worth while I could read extracts from a considerable number of editorials showing that fact.

The CHAIRMAN. Do the other publications of your league bear on this question? You have handed us only one pamphlet.

Mr. HALL. This pamphlet was intended to be a summary of everything we have on this point. There are some other publicationsThe CHAIRMAN. Would it not be an advantage to the committee to have a set of your publications?

Mr. HALL. Many of them are out of print. Otherwise we should be glad to furnish them. We believe we have here the gist of the matter. The press, as I said, have very largely indorsed the proposition. The party platforms of both political parties for 1896 and 1900 have asked for a restriction of immigration.

The CHAIRMAN. I have forgotten whether either party specifically indorsed an educational test?

Mr. HALL. The Republican platform of 1896 said:

For the protection of the quality of our American citizenship and of the wages of our workingmen against the fatal competition of low-priced labor, we demand that the immigration laws be thoroughly enforced and so extended as to exclude from entrance to the United States those who can neither read nor write.

President McKinley and President Roosevelt

Senator MCLAURIN of Mississippi. From what did you read?

Mr. HALL. The Republican platform of 1896. President McKinley and President Roosevelt have also emphasized the same thing in their messages.

The CHAIRMAN. What does the Democratic platform say?

Mr. HALL. In 1896 it said:

We hold that the most efficient way of protecting American labor is to prevent the importation of foreign pauper labor to compete with it in the home market.

In 1900 it said:

We favor the continuance and strict enforcement of the Chinese-exclusion law and its application to the same classes of all Asiatic races.

While I am speaking of the Asiatic races I will call your attention to the great increase in Asiatic immigration coming through the ports of Europe.

On page 4 of the pamphlet the figures for Asiatic races are given. That includes a certain number of Chinese, but the total immigration from Asia in the last year is larger than the immigration from England. The immigration from Syria alone is larger than the immigration from France. That shows the wonderful change which has taken place in the last twenty years.

The CHAIRMAN. Where do you find those figures?

Mr. HALL. They are not in this pamphlet. This simply.gives the total. The largest element in immigration at present for the last year are southern Italians, who constituted over a quarter

Senator MCLAURIN, of Mississippi. It nearly doubled from 1899 to 1901?

Mr. HALL. Yes. The largest elements in immigration at present

The CHAIRMAN. Your theory is that the Irish and the Germans go to Africa and Australia and other places rather than come to America? Mr. HALL. They are being discouraged from coming to America on account of the competition with the very low grade labor coming here. The Germans are partly going to South Africa and partly staying at home. The Irish immigration is going to Australia and South Africa and other places rather than coming here.

Senator DILLINGHAM. Is it your theory that the class of people that you say are settling on the Atlantic coast are settling there because they are hewers of wood and drawers of water and find employment there rather than in the West?

Mr. HALL. The reason appears to be that, in the first place, they are very poor. They do not have the money to buy tickets to a place any farther West. Second, their predecessors, their relatives and their friends, have done the same thing. They have settled on the Atlantic seaboard; and if you ask an immigrant of these races landing at the port of New York where he is going, he will tell you nine times out of ten that he is going to the city of New York; and that is usually true. He is very poor. He has to have employment immediately. He gets in touch with some contractor for cheap labor in New York City, and having met that contractor he will stay and work for a few weeks or a few months and by that time he has no disposition to move farther. He keeps in the same line. That is true in mining regions. A certain number go there

Senator DILLINGHAM. Is it not true that those contractors—take it, for instance, in Boston and New York-take large gangs of these men